•  533
    Theory Without Theories: Well-Being, Ethics, and Medicine
    Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 46 (6): 656-683. 2021.
    Medical ethics would be better if people were taught to think more clearly about well-being or the concept of what is good for a person. Yet for a variety of reasons, bioethicists have generally paid little attention to this concept. Here, I argue, first, that focusing on general theories of welfare is not useful for practical medical ethics. I argue, second, for what I call the “theory-without-theories approach” to welfare in practical contexts. The first element of this approach is a focus on …Read more
  •  495
    Why Even a Liberal Can Justify Limited Paternalistic Intervention in Anorexia Nervosa
    Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 28 (2): 155-158. 2021.
    Most adult persons with anorexia satisfy the existing criteria widely used to assess decision-making capacity, meaning that incapacity typically cannot be used to justify coercive intervention. After rejecting two other approaches to justification, Professor Radden concludes that it is most likely not possible to justify coercive medical intervention for persons with anorexia in liberal terms, though she leaves it open whether some other framework might succeed. I shall assume here that the stan…Read more
  •  58
    Patient autonomy and the challenge of clinical uncertainty
    with Mark Parascandola and Marion Danis
    Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 12 (3): 245-264. 2002.
    : Bioethicists have articulated an ideal of shared decision making between physician and patient, but in doing so the role of clinical uncertainty has not been adequately confronted. In the face of uncertainty about the patient's prognosis and the best course of treatment, many physicians revert to a model of nondisclosure and nondiscussion, thus closing off opportunities for shared decision making. Empirical studies suggest that physicians find it more difficult to adhere to norms of disclosure…Read more